Fact Check: Texas Abortion Law Does Not Give Full 6 Weeks To Get An Abortion

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Regarding the bill, a reporter asked: “Why force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term? to which Abbott replied, “It doesn’t require that at all, because it obviously gives a person at least 6 weeks to be able to have an abortion.”

The facts first: Abbott’s response is misleading at best. The provision in the law prohibiting abortions after six weeks does not necessarily mean six weeks after the incident, in the case of victims of rape or incest. Doctors date pregnancies from the first day of an individual’s last menstrual cycle, not ovulation or “conception”. As a result, under new Texas law, those who request an abortion have less than six weeks to do so.

Melaney Linton, CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which operates six centers in the Greater Houston area, said in a statement: “Gov. Abbott’s remarks prove once again why politicians with no understanding of bases of reproductive health do not have to legislate on these critical issues. .

Jennifer Kerns, associate professor at the University of California at San Francisco and obstetrician-gynecologist, told CNN: “To say that a person has six weeks to access an abortion is completely misleading.”

“When we say six weeks pregnant, it really means six weeks from the last menstrual period,” Kerns said. “So that doesn’t really mean the person has been six weeks pregnant.”

Abbott tried to caution his comments on Tuesday by highlighting that “rape is a crime”, although the bill is no exception. Under SB8, the only possible exemption is for “medical emergency”. Otherwise, abortion is prohibited when a fetal heartbeat is detected, although the flicker identified as a fetal heartbeat on an ultrasound at that time is actually only electrical activity and the sound is produced by the ultrasound device itself. Even at six weeks, doctors say an ultrasound doesn’t detect a functioning heart. And it should be noted that the fetal heart rate used as the abortion threshold in this bill often occurs before people know they are pregnant.

According to Linton, “People with regular menstrual cycles don’t even miss a period until they’re four weeks pregnant, which means they have at most two weeks to have an abortion.”

However, Kerns pointed out that “a lot of women have irregular periods, a lot of women skip their periods. So if we’re talking about a week window basically, and you’re one of those many unlucky people whose periods are not 28 days apart, you could easily miss that window of time to detect pregnancy. ”

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also rebuffed Abbott’s comments, noting that people can miss their periods for reasons other than pregnancy, including stress, which could make it even more difficult to detecting pregnancy and planning an abortion within six months. window of the week.

“Six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “AC360” Tuesday night. “And two weeks late on your period for anyone – anyone with a menstrual cycle – can happen if you’re stressed, if your diet changes, or for no real reason. So you don’t have six weeks.”

Beyond biological time constraints, rape and incest victims face other factors that could narrow their window to have an abortion even further.

Dr Bhavik Kumar, staff physician at the Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston, said in a statement: “Victims of rape and incest would be forced to deal with the trauma and could eventually decide to terminate a pregnancy that would result in the days following the assault. Gov. Abbott’s comments on rape and rapists are callous, uninformed, and out of touch with the reality of survivors’ experiences. “

For victims of rape or incest, Linton said SB8’s condensed timeline means they have “just a few days to find out they’re pregnant, make a decision, find a provider, get an appointment. you and secure financial and logistical resources, while dealing with the trauma of being assaulted. “

Even those who wish to have an abortion and are eligible under the new law may not be able to have the procedure on time given other barriers to access, such as cost and waiting period. mandatory 24-hour state. The waiting period may be waived if the person requesting the abortion lives at least 100 miles from the nearest abortion provider, which is a possibility given the limited number of abortion centers in the state. .

“Texas is a very large state geographically with very few abortion providers. And many people in Texas already live very far from an abortion provider,” Kerns said. “So when we talk about a week, for people who live in big cities it may not seem short, but for people who have to travel 300, 400 miles to get an abortion who can begin to understand how. it’s heavy. ”



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